Ello (We're hiring!)

🌍 Ex-founders – we’re looking for the right person to launch a next-gen AI tutor in Africa. If you’ve built something from 0 to 1, love working across both growth & product, and are excited about AI & social impact in Africa, this one’s for you. At Ello, we're on a mission to make world-class education accessible to every child, everywhere. Now, we’re preparing to expand globally and launch a new version of our product this year, with Kenya as our first international market.   You’ll join our Nairobi office for the next 12-18 months (relocation assistance available), help bring our cutting-edge AI technology to new markets, and own the process of taking a new edtech product from zero to tens of thousands of users. https://lnkd.in/eFiKMbzJ

👋 Excited to welcome back Shivatmica Murgai, our Machine Learning intern, who’s rejoining the team this summer! Shivatmica is an undergraduate at Stanford University studying Mathematics and Computer Science. She is passionate about the intersection of machine learning and math, particularly in understanding how mathematical frameworks form the backbone of AI models. She has worked on AI safety and cybersecurity research at Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence Lab (Cybench), where she contributed towards a research paper about the application of AI agents with cybersecurity systems. Her past projects include de-biasing word embeddings related to physical appearance and mathematically modeling intelligent transportation systems; she has published her research at several IEEE conferences. She’s also interned at Ello before as a junior research engineer and worked on AI-generating decodable children’s stories and enhancing AI-generated images. At Stanford’s Thrun Lab, she enhanced k-medoids clustering with parallel tempering. In her free time, she enjoys reading, listening to music, and playing badminton. 📚 Favorite Children’s Book: Cuddles the Cow

We're thrilled to welcome Sierra Wang to the team as our Engineering Intern this summer! Sierra brings strong technical skills, a fresh perspective, and an eagerness to learn — and we’re so excited to have her onboard. Sierra is a PhD student in Computer Science at Stanford, advised by Professors John Mitchell and Chris Piech. In her research, Sierra focuses on developing and evaluating technologies to improve access to high-quality education—for example, through Code in Place, a free, global computer science course, and more recently, by designing educational experiences over WhatsApp. Before Stanford, she earned her B.S. in CS at the University of Washington, and M.S. in CS at UC Santa Barbara, where she worked on an operating system for microservices in the IoT. Sierra learned about Ello through her advisor (Chris Piech) and is excited to support efforts that make education more accessible to children. Favorite Children’s Book: The Jester Who Lost His Jingle by David Saltzman 📚

Please join us in giving a big, warm welcome to Don Adero, our new Product Research Lead for New Products at Ello! Don Adero is a product and design research leader passionate about designing for inclusion and elevating people’s everyday lives through thoughtful, human-centered innovation. With over 9 years of experience leading research and strategy across fintech, agriculture, public health, and education, Don brings a rare blend of cultural depth, systems thinking, and grounded execution. At IDEO.org, he helped design transformative programs for adolescent girls and young womens’ health, smallholder farming, and early childhood education across several African countries—embedding empathy and local insight into large-scale interventions. He later transitioned into fintech, where he led product research and strategy for inclusive financial solutions across Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and Tanzania—ensuring user insights translated into products that were both scalable and trusted. Don is also the founder of 1700 Coffee, a storytelling initiative that documents the lives and labor behind East Africa’s coffee culture—connecting global audiences with the people, places, and histories behind every cup. At Ello, Don leads product research, helping uncover what children desire, not just what they need. His work explores how curiosity, play, and agency can shape joyful, equitable education—especially in underserved communities. He is always curious about what moves people, and how design can help build with—not just for—them. Favorite Children’s book: Epoca: The River of Sand 📚 We can’t wait to see the new ideas and discoveries Don will help unlock—welcome to the team!

Excited to officially welcome Brian Edwin Ochieng and Symon Njenga as full-time QA Analysts at Ello! Brian and Symon first joined us as Annotators and quickly became a core part of our QA team. We’re thrilled to see them grow into their new roles! Brian O. is a Quality Assurance Analyst passionate about building a strong Quality Assurance framework for AI models and helping shape tools that help support children learning. Prior to joining Ello, he worked as a research consultant and Annotator. Working closely with Educators and developers, he ensures every product release meets high quality standards and delivers meaningful experience for young readers. Coming from a background of educators, Brian O. has a genuine love for children's literature and has reviewed many of Ello's digital and TurnTaking books. He lives in Nairobi, Kenya. Outside of work, he enjoys playing video games, hiking, swimming and spending time with his family and friends. Favorite Children's book: Cinderella and the Seven Dwarfs 📚 Before joining Ello, Symon worked in customer service and as a reviewer for a transcription and captioning company. Symon is a highly resourceful individual who thrives in systems that require precision and consistency. During his free time, Symon enjoys attending art shows, watching animated films, playing video games, and reading African literature. He is based in Nairobi, Kenya. Favorite Children’s book: Manga Goes to School, The Moses series by Barbara Kimenye 📚 We’re so proud to have you both on the team full-time, and can’t wait for all that’s ahead!

We’re hiring for two really cool roles right now at Ello: 1) Senior Product Engineer and 2) Tech Lead, GenAI & Machine Learning. If you’re passionate about AI, education, and building world-class products that help all kids thrive (not just the lucky few) — let’s talk. 🚀 1) Senior Product Engineer (San Francisco) We’re looking for an ex-founder and full-stack engineer with strong product & design intuition. You’ll independently own the development of entirely new learning activities, taking them all the way from idea to playtest. You’ll work closely with our Co-Founder & CTO, Catalin Voss, and a team of A+ engineers, learning designers, and ML researchers to shape the next generation of AI-powered tutoring. You’ll go deep on generative AI, UX for kids, and agent-based interactions — all while shipping fast. (We also posted this role as “Senior Design Engineer” — curious to see which framing resonates more!) 2) Tech Lead, GenAI & Machine Learning (San Francisco) This is a rare opportunity to lead ML architecture at a mission-driven startup building cutting-edge AI for education. As Tech Lead, you’ll own the intersection of ML research and product impact, so it requires deep experience in GenAI tooling, production ML, and a strong product mindset. If you care just as much about how things are built as why, we’d love to meet you. ~~ 🌍 At Ello, we’re building the world’s first complete AI teacher for children. We believe every child deserves access to high-quality, personalized learning. If you want to work on something deeply meaningful with a team that values integrity, initiative, and impact — come join us. 🔗 Apply here: ello.com/jobs

Please join us in giving a big welcome to Taysha Tiatia, our new Workplace Experience Manager! Taysha brings over four years of experience in workplace operations, executive support, and event planning. Before joining Ello, she served as Executive Assistant to the CEO at a fast-growing professional services firm, where she also managed office operations and supported cross-functional initiatives. With a people-first mindset and an eye for design, Taysha is passionate about creating well-run, inspiring environments where teams can thrive. Outside of work, you can find her exploring local events in San Francisco, hanging out with her tuxedo cat Elphie, or diving into a new creative project. Favorite Children’s Book: Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein 📚 Welcome to the team, Taysha! 🎉

Next Thursday 5/8, come meet our co-founder and CTO Catalin Moreno Voss at the Voice AI Builders Forum in SF! https://lu.ma/5zoq9hoc And if you want to build in this space and revolutionize the way children learn...we're hiring. 👉 ello.com/jobs

Excited to share that João Borges has joined our team as a Senior Unity Engineer! 🎮 João, welcome to the crew! João is a game developer who’s been building interactive experiences since 2016, earning his bachelor’s degree in Game Design from Universidade Anhembi Morumbi in 2017. With a background that spans from gameplay mechanics to artistic systems, João enjoys bringing together creativity and code to craft games that feel intuitive and alive. He’s especially drawn to moments where design, visuals, and systems all click into place. Outside of work, João is rarely far from music. A lifelong musician, he’s played in bands, picked up more instruments than he can count, and never turns down a karaoke night. Whether it’s making games or making noise, he’s always exploring new ways to connect, create, and have fun along the way. Favorite Children's Book: A montanha encantada by Maria José Dupré 📚

We’re thrilled to have Dane Bratz on board, who has joined our team as Staff Software Engineer, New Products! 🎉| Welcome, Dane — we can’t wait to see the incredible things we’ll build together! Dane is a software engineer with 10+ years of experience building from the ground up. As someone who loves kids and their wonder for the world, he's excited to work with a team driven to maximize the potential of each and every child. Most recently, Dane was the CTO and co-founder of a venture backed startup Skipper, which built technology for independent hotels, and was acquired at the end of 2024. Prior to that, Dane was an early technical lead at Turing, an engineer at Kite, and built a mobile app that taught people how to cook using ingredients at hand called Skillit. Dane holds a BS in Symbolic Systems with a concentration in Decision Making and Rationality from Stanford. Outside of work, Dane enjoys reading, practicing yoga, and snowboarding. He spends a lot of time being goofy and playing imaginatively with his wife and two kids, Makana and Sky. Favorite Children's Book: Redwall, by Brian Jacques 📚